Do Cyborgs Dream of Electric Sheep?
by The Glorious Reader
Summary: With the rise of crime by high level espers and insane cyborgs, the Board of Directors created the infamous MAX-TAC unit to eliminate these threats to Academy City with brutal efficiency. When Kamijou Touma joins the squad under certain circumstances, he will learn the dark secrets of both the city he's sworn to protect and the other supernatural forces at work. /Cyberpunk/Index AU


**Hello Everyone, Reader Here! Got another story idea, so I hope you enjoy it! Let's get into it! See ya at the bottom!**

 **DISCLAIMER:** **I DO NOT OWN** **TOARU MAJUSTO NO INDEX!**

 **Chapter 1: First Day**

* * *

 **(District 2 - Anti-Skill Branch #99 Building - Evening)**

Academy City was the center of a world advancing into the next age of technological innovation and design. Things such as cybernetics, illegal cloning, hypothetical drugs and people with supernatural powers were just some of the daily occurrence in a city where the impossible was made the mundane. Such a chaotic mix of things lead to the city's police force to be absolutely loaded with dangerous work.

The Anti-Skill office was aloud with activity as multiple people dressed in the heavily armored suits and were armed with high powered automatic assault rifles stood about. On the back of each of the officers suits was the label, " _MAX-TAC"_ in white with the squads logo right below it.

At the very corner of the room was a person one would describe as a teen, his younger appearance being a distinctive feature among the older members. His spiky black hair would be the first thing that set him apart, along with his slimmer armor that was featured under his grey unzipped hoodie,a matching pair of tactical cargo pants and a purplish-blue visor on his forehead. Many would wonder why someone who looked like they were still in high school would be apart of what appeared to be an elite squad of what were essentially soldiers.

Although they were classified as an 'Elite Police Unit', they were outfitted with weapons and training that rivaled the military of other countries. The Maximum Force Tactical Division, known as _MAX - TAC_ , was the subset of the police force that dealt with the cities most dangerous cases of out of control cyborgs or high ranking espers.

People who had no powers and were ranked 0 by the cities Power Curriculum Program had generally turned to augmentations to try and bridge the gap between themselves and the powerful espers. Due to the nature of cybernetic enhancements, people who applied too many of these tended to contracted Cyberpsychosis, a mental disorder that causes cyborgs to commit violence against others due to a feeling of superiority. The same principle applied to the esper side as well, with level 4 and 5 espers going out of control due to sensation of being drunk on power. The group had been nicknamed the "Psycho Squad", due to the nature of those whom the squad would usually engage.

"And also some of the people in this room…" the teen silently whispered to himself as he looked around the armory. As he was the squads newest member and also its least experienced, he felt a great sense of isolation from the more seasoned veterans. These men were usually recruited due to their ferocity and augmentations that would give them an edge in combat against foes that could very well destroy the city if not kept in check. This would lead to many of the members to be just as insane as the people they fought, as they same risk of contracting Cyberpsychosis.

The only known way to control the debilitating illness was a combination of therapy and drugs, but even with those many cyborgs would still be brought to the brink of madness. The spiky haired boy, whom himself had augmentations, knew the risk all to well.

As with anything in his life, himself joining Anti-Skills most dangerous unit was a result of his usual misfortune. Most people his age and younger wouldn't even be considered for joining the regular ranks of Anti-Skill, let alone a squad of heavily armed officers whom dealt with bloodshed on a daily basis, Generally those whom were enrolled from middle to high school were only permitted to join the cities disciplinary committee of Judgement, a less dangerous organization that more focused on investigating and arresting suspects while also patrolling the cities streets.

He sighed loudly as he took the large caliber pistol and a hand held sub-machine gun and placed them in their respective holsters. Although he certainly didn't want to be apart of MAX-TAC, he knew that just whining about it wouldn't bring about anything so he decided to try and do his best. The job didn't come without perks however, the chance of missing school while also having the ability to help people without the worry of being persecuted by Anti-Skill or Judgement.

"Alright everyone, listen up boys and girls…" a hoarse voice spoke behind him. He and the rest of the squad of around 20 people turned to greet the voice of their commander. "Today we got ourselves a real fucking treat today. Skill-out thugs have gone on a crime spree in District 19 and we've been assigned to take them down. Judgement officers who responded to the scene first report them being heavily armed and just as augmented. Lets move out."

As they began filing out of the room, the older man pulled Touma to the side with a stern expression. "Listen Kid, I know your… circumstances… for being brought in this here squad. But I'm not gonna force you to go straight into the fire. If you want, you can sit this one out and just observe for today. It's up to you though." he said solemnly. Touma just shook his head and sported a gentle smile.

"I know what I'm going into, Mr. Nikkita, so I don't mind jumping into the fray. If I'm going to learn to be a member of this squad, I'm going to need live experience. I thank you for your concern, though." responded the boy. The brown haired man seemed surprised at first before he sorted a small grin.

"Very well, Mr. Kamijou. I'll respect your decision, but don't come crying to me when shit hits the fan. Welcome to the Psycho Squad." he said earnestly while leaving the room. Touma merely shook his head in slight annoyance before following the squad into the Anti-Skill van and entered. Since there were no seats left, he reached up and grabbed the railing while turning himself to the center of the vehicle. A holographic map of District 19 was setup with multiple red dots that represented the aggressors.

"As I said before, we have Skill-Out leading attacks on Judgement officers that were patrolling the district. They number between 30 and 40, so were going to be outmanned when it comes to manpower. Their leader is a punk by the name of Ryuji Tetsuo…" said the commander while pulling up a picture of the burly man, "... he is a person we have being monitoring due to his recent implants he had received, so we have a fairly good idea of what he can do. His body has been almost entirely been replaced with cybernetic parts, so this guy will certainly be an issue."

After he finished talking about the finer details of the mision, the rest of the ride remained silent until they reached the crime scene. The door to the van open and the squad began pouring out of the vehicle with their guns at the ready. Touma put on his pair of goggles and followed the squad with his SMG pointed to the sky.

There were already multiple standard Anti-Skills squads whom were holding the perimeter, hearing the sounds of gunshots and explosions nearby. Looking around the parking lot, he spotted multiple Judgement members being treated for a variety of wounds that ranged from simple gunshot wounds to deep and messy cuts.

"Luckily, it looks like no one was killed…" spoke the boy with a sigh of relief.

"Heads up, eyes sharp people. Let's do this!" spoke the commander enthusiastically. Touma stared blankly at the man before he sighed and followed the other men into the combat zone.

The large group was split into five man groups to better cover the area. Since he was underage, coupled with the fact that this was going to be his first major fire fight, he remained at the back of the squad to guard the flank. Though he was a proficient fighter by constantly fighting thugs and gangs on a daily basis due to his unlucky nature, he had never really entered a true gun fight.

His group began to move out, the two in the front held riot shields while the two behind him aimed their rifles through the cracks. Touma kept a steady lookout behind him while also making sure to keep up with the main group. The gun in his hand felt like a thousand pounds and he could feel the sweat building up on its grip.

Out of an alley, a lone gunman had jumped out an attempted to ambush the group. Touma squeezes the trigger and a barrage of bullets tore through the man's clothes and body, hearing the pang of the bullets hitting the metal that was infused with the man's skin. The purple haired man collapsed to the ground in a spasm as blood continued to pour out of him like a river. The man's body twitched for a bit until it stopped moving at all, the dead man's eyes staring straight into Touma's.

The gun he had dropped out of his hands as they began to shake intensely. His black eyes widened and dilated, instantly the black haired boy felt like he was about to puke when he felt a hand be placed on his shoulder. Looking back, it was one of his squad mates with a concerned expression.

"You alright dude? First time ending a life? The first kill is always the hardest my friend, soon you'll get used to it." spoke the man honestly with a slight Russian accent. The blonde haired man gave Touma a slight pat on shoulder before he returned his vision to the front. The boy finally turned his head away from the corpse and shook his head.

 _"It was either him or us, I had no choice!"_ he said mentally. Just like what the commander had said before about knowing what he was getting into. " _Plus, I could get shot right now!"_

The small band of officers moved slowly down the streets while criminals took pot shots from all around. Touma began taking more careful shots, aiming for less vital areas of the human body to wound rather than kill. The wounded count rose as they responded with full force, bodies dramatically flying off buildings and ledges and landing with booming thuds.

"Dude, if we weren't getting shot at right now, I would keeling over from laughing with how these assholes are dropping!" spoke one crudely as two others chuckled in response. "We're almost at the meetup point. If the other teams are making just as much magic as we are, then we should be ok." spoke the leader in a more cold tone. He noticed that the others seemed to tense up at the black haired mans words.

 _"Wonder what his deal is?"_ he thought before his attention was drawn to reality when his squad stopped and he had not realized it. He crashed into the mans back and fell back to the ground on his rear. Expecting to see the other officers to be laughing at his expense, he was however greeted with the horrified look of his comrades when he looked up.

Looking to where they were staring at, he instantly understood why they had such and expression. A large man, with his entire body appearing to a tangled mess of wires and metal, stood hulking over a separate group of MAX-TAC with a menacing look. In one of his metallic hands was a large sledgehammer that was stained with blood. Swinging the hammer with a mighty roar, the unfortunate officers that were in its path were sent flying sideways into a nearby building. Around the area Touma could see multiple agents that were injured and could barely move, while other were desperately trying to take down the behemoth with their heavy rifles.

"Holy shit…" they collectively whispered.

"Look at these pathetic boot lickers trying to take down me, _the_ Ryuji Tetsuo! HA! You think those guns kill me, you got another thing coming to ya!" yelled the man as the bullets bounced off his armor. The teen knew that trying to straight out rush him would be suicide. His special ability, _Imagine Breaker_ , was useless in this situation. Also his SMG and pistol wouldn't even scratch the mans heavy plated armor either.

Looking around the area to see if their was anything that could at least stun him, he spotted a crashed Anti-Skill van that had been abandoned nearby. Specifically he noticed a particularly powerful weapon that was sticking out the back.

"The Railgun!" he said aloud. Due to situations like the one they were in currently, the squad was armed with weapons that were usually higher caliber and power than the standard Anti-Skill unit. One such weapon they relied on to take down more powerful foes was the X-55 Railgun, not to be confused with the level esper known as Railgun though the formula behind the esper and weapon were the same. They both used large amounts of electricity to fire a metal projectile at extreme velocity to create immense damage. The thing that separated the two was the fact that Misaka Mikoto could create a shot that was much more powerful, being able to pump over 1 billion volts into an attack, while the X-55's output was significantly less.

"You three! Cover me while I grab the Railgun!" he said while pointing to the downed van. Before they could protest he was already sprinting faster than he thought he could. Seeing the bullets fly from behind him he assumed that his teammates had followed his order. He grabbed a panel of metal that had been blown off from one of the nearby cars to block any stray flak or bullets that neared him.

Just as he was about to reach the van, one of the Skill-Out members ambushed him with blade that extended from his mechanical arm, wildly swinging it around with fast slashes. As he ducked under one of the attacks, the thug missed and smashed it into a nearby concrete wall. Touma used this opportunity to charge the man and force his back against the door of the van with immense force, shattering the sword as bits and pieces flew everywhere. After flurry of fast jabs at the persons chest, he sent a powerful punch straight into the mans face that knocked him out in an instant. He threw the criminals unconscious body to the ground as he reached up and grabbed the heavy piece of artillery, taking a few moments to pull it out of the rubble.

Eventually he managed to dislodge the device and grabbed a rod made of tungsten from its spare compartment and loaded it into the back of the machine. The movement was awkward, as the Railgun was supposed to be operated by either someone in an exoskeleton or by a two man team with a loader in the back and a trigger man to actually aim and shoot it. Taking aim with the cannon, he used his strength to level the heavy weapon, swaying it left to right to try and get a clear shot at the rampaging berserker.

When the man finally came to a sudden stop, he pulled the trigger, feeling the vibration of the magnets of either side of the gun being energized by electricity before the round violently exploded out of the barrel. The full force of the supersonic bullet tore through the mans chest, bits of the plated armor and flash were sent flying while his screams of agony filling the entire square.

"He's been weakened! Everyone, shoot him!" the boy yelled loudly. The stunned squad quickly regained their senses and focused their fire on the wounded cyborg. Due to his weakened armor, the barrage of high caliber bullets peeled away at his remaining defenses until his battered body collapsed to the ground.

Touma sighed as he dropped the heavy Railgun to the side and brought himself to the ground and laid himself out on his back. His gaze was solely on the night sky, a few minutes later he heard the sounds of people rushing around him towards the center of the plaza. A familiar brown haired man eventually appeared above him, a faint smirk across his face.

"I saw what happened with that guy, nice job kid. I can see what the brass saw in you when they recommended that you join this squad. You look tired after all that's happened tonight, so we can save the debriefing for a later date." he said while offering a hand. Touma smiled at the gesture and took the hand, pulling him from the ground and back on his two feet.

"Thanks, if you don't mind, I just want to go home and sleep this headache off..." he said sheepishly while scratching the side of his head. Even after what had just transpired here, he would still have school tomorrow. Although he was permitted to miss a few days of school, those are only if he was critically injured, such as being shot or having one of his arms cut off. The man slowly nodded.

"Well, I'll email you you when you are needed. See ya later, Touma-kun!" said the man as he walked away to talk to another officer. The boy felt a sweat drop at the mans antics, sighing as he dropped off his weapons at the squads van before departing back to his dorm for the night.

* * *

 **(District 7 - A Certain High School - Next Day)**

The teenage Anti-Skill Officer sat exhausted in the room of A Certain High School with his fellow members of 'Delta Squad', aka the idiot trio of the school. The blue haired Arogami stood next to Touma's seat while Tsuchimikado Motoharu sat directly opposite from him.

"Rough night at the new job-nya? Have any hot Anti-Skill onee-sama's fall under the Kami-yan disease?" spoke the blonde teen with his usual sly grin.

"Damn you Kamijou! You already have a harem of all varieties, yet you leave none for us!" yelled Arogami in an enraged voice. Before he could pounce on the black haired fool, the fist of god plowed him straight into the ground, courtesy of the Iron Wall Girl herself.

"Shut up idiot! Is there anything else you guys can talk about when your in public?! By the way Touma, what's this about a job with Anti-Skill?!" she said inquisitively and with surprise.

"Yep. Though it's more like a… internship… more than anything. Because of it I get excused from having to go to supplementary lessons, plus a bunch of other bonuses as well." he said with a sheepish grin. Fukiyose looked at him with an astonished face.

"Why the hell are you with Anti-Skill?! Aren't you with supposed to be in Judgement cause you a High School student?" she nearly yelled. Touma blinked at the usually stone faced girl. Her usual cold and reprimanding tone felt more like one of concern.

"I'm not really supposed to talk about it. But I can say it has been very interesting. Also I'm not put into direct combat, so I am in usually no danger." he said, not mentioning how he nearly got stabbed and shot the night prior. She seemed to accept his answer as she nodded and walked over to a nearby classmate and began talking. Saying his goodbyes to Tsuchimikado he left the school and began walking through the streets aimlessly, with no particular destination in mind. As Touma walked through the streets of various districts, he gazed at the various lit up multicolored neon signs and the high rise dorms and offices.

Although the city usually relied on companies that were loyal to the independent state, many of the outside mega corporations had poured large sums of money into the city to try to gain influence and favors from the cities powerful board members. Not to mention many of the worlds C.E.O's children attended the prestigious schools also in the city as well. These companies, along with the large corporations sanctioned by the city, substantially influenced the politics and social affairs of the inhabitants, using the espers and augmented populace as test subjects.

Not realizing that the sun was setting, he continued on his walk when, in a discrete area, he spotted a small group of sketchy men surrounding something near a vending machine. The thugs were dressed in leather jackets and trench coats that were outlined in bright colors and he could visibly see the back their heavily augmented heads. As he got closer to them, he noticed a short girl wearing a school uniform, her high class features twisted in annoyance rather than fear along with her eyes being closed.

"She seems tough despite her looks... I guess I should get those assholes to bug off. Just in case." he said quietly before approached the group with his right fist clenched. Seeing that she herself didn't have any cybernetics, he guessed she must have been a high level esper. Since they had their powers, they had little reason to augment their body other than for medical purposes. Even then, they could easily afford new organs that could be grown within a lab as well.

"-ome on, we can show you a great time, girl." said perversely the man with his arm pressed against the wall behind her. She haughtily laughed before opening her left eye while sporting a creepy grin.

"Hey idiots, do have anything better to do than to pick on a middle school kid?" he said aloud. When the entire group, including the girl, looked at him with a look of confusion from the thugs and aggravation from the girls face, he got a complete look of her face and nearly gagged.

 _"That short brown hair... her irritable nature... that face... that... that couldn't be!"_ he thought nervously as he deduced the girls identity.

* * *

 **(2 Months Prior - Anti-Skill Training Facility)**

 _Sitting in a dull looking classroom that was sparsely filled with trainees, the black haired boy slowly tapped his pencil against the side of the metal desk while the teacher spoke about the boring details of the police groups work. They all wore a shirts that had Anti-Skill printed in white on the front and were black in color._

 _"As you will be dealing with high level espers on a daily basis, you will be required to identify all level five espers currently in Academy City in case you are tasked with subjugating them." he said while moving to the next slide. On the next several slides, all the seven known level five espers in existence, their face, abilities, backgrounds and various other information a officer may need to know when dealing with them._

 _"Accelerator... Dark Matter... Railgun?" he said aloud while reading the information on the screen._

 _Subject: Misaka Mikoto_

 _Age: 14_

 _Esper Ability: Railgun_

 _School: Tokidawai Middle School_

 _Personality: Easily Angered, but has never used her abilities on general populace._

 _Background: Originally a level 1 esper, she worked aggressively to achieve her level five status, as well she is known as the "Ace of Tokidawai" with her combined skills and intellect. As with all level five espers, she especially shouldn't be faced alone or with a small group..._

 _"Seems pretty dangerous for a short one, though I heard from Aogami_ _that short girls usually are the ones that have a temper and are also tsunderes as well." he said mentally, losing his entire focus on the lesson at hand._

* * *

 **(Present)**

He nervously gulped as the girl visibly began to charge up her electricity. Out of instinct he raised his right hand as she yelled loudly and the lightning exploded in all directions outward from her. Hearing the thugs bodies falling to the ground and comforting sound of Imagine Breaker working, he slowly began to open his eyes to see the girl staring at him with shock.

Seeing that all the thugs were downed, he decided to bail out before he angered the level five zapper even more. Although he was supposed to report incidents like this, she was the one being harassed and the punishment they received from her seemed appropriate.

"W-Well now, since that had been taken care of, I'll be taking my leave..." he stuttered as he began walking away from the scene when he felt a sensation that danger was near. Turning to the girl again, he saw that the girls eyes were twitching and a tick mark appearing on her forehead as blue electricity began forming above her head. Before she could speak she sent the charged lightning bolt towards him, to which again deflected with his right hand.

Not waiting for her to respond, he began running in the opposite direction. Touma heard her yell something at him but he didn't particularly want to to be turned into a fried fish. He kept running until he felt his legs begin to go numb and his lungs began to burn due to the exertion. Standing alone on a A Certain Iron Railway Bridge, he pressed his right hand against one of the green steel beams and breathed heavily. His damaged left arm appeared to be randomly twitching with blue sparks running up and down its length.

It was only known to a few individuals that Toumas left arm was a prosthetic. Replacing the arm had been one of the major reasons that he had come to Academy City in the first place, along with his unusual misfortune that was seen as supernatural. He could only guess the stray static discharge from the brown haired girl had damaged his arm, though not so much that he couldn't fix it.

"Phew... Finally, I caught up with you! Do you have robot legs or something?!" exclaimed an exhausted familiar voice. Turning to a exasperated level five, he saw her glare at him as she tried to catch her breath.

"What the hell do you want, Zapper? I didn't do anything to you, heck, I even tried to help you with those thugs!" yelled the Anti-Skill rookie. She simply sneered as she turned her head to the side.

"I'm a level five, the third strongest in this damn city! I didn't need help taking out a few idiots like those!" she yelled as she crossed her arms as she began charging up her power. "Though this isn't about that. I'm more interested in this ability of yours..."

Letting out her most powerful attack yet, Touma moved his damaged left arm away from the attack while the torrent of crashed into his right. Despite the millions of volts concurrently hitting him, the attack was fully dispelled into nothing in less than a second. She once again looked surprised to see the powerful attack be swatted away like an annoying bug.

"What level are you? To be able to deflect a level five attack like that, you gotta be at least a level 3 or 4." said the brunette. Touma shook his head.

"I'm a level zero. Look, I've had a long day, can I just go home?" he asked with audible tension in his voice. Taken aback by his harsh tone, the electromaster seemed to hesitate in pressing for an answer. Using her hesitation, he sped off from the girl before she could charge up her attack. Hiding behind a building, he looked back towards the level five from his hiding spot.

As she was about to give him chase, the girl looked down at her phone framed in the shape of a frog, her face paling at whatever it was on the phone before running away in a full sprint. _'Must have a strict curfew...'_ he thought before sighing aloud. Although tomorrow he would have his debriefing from the mission a few days prior, that gave him an excuse to miss school.

"Let's hope that I don't need to go to remedial classes... such misfortune..." he whispered as he continued down the empty darks streets of the city.

* * *

 **Whelp, there we go! This is just another random idea that I got from thinking of idea for A Certain Unfortunate Criminal, along with a recent game of the Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop, lead to this story! Since Academy City is supposed to be a extremely advanced city, plus with prosthetic limbs already seen in the series, I thought they would mix together quite nicely. Note that I wont be just strictly follow one or another, instead I'll try to mix them as best as possible. Leave a review if you have any ideas or critiques, please leave a review or send me a PM. Thanks, and have a good one!**

 **(P.S: Those who read my other stories, my Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei stories will be updated within a few days after posting this, thanks!)**


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